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M.T.A. Passes Wide Range of Service Cuts

Nearly every bus, subway and commuter rail rider in New York stands to be affected by a punishing slate of service cuts that was approved on Wednesday by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is struggling to fill a sudden financial shortfall of more than $400 million.

The plan, which does not include a fare increase in 2010, strips back some of the advances to New York City’s transit system in the past decade — eliciting outrage from the city’s top elected officials and community leaders, some of whom spoke against the plan at the board meeting on Wednesday before the vote was taken.

The cuts would create more crowding on subways and buses, reduce frequency during weekends, late nights and weekday afternoons, and wholly eliminate two minor subway lines, the W and the Z. Service on dozens of bus lines would be reduced or ended, and disabled riders would find it more difficult to get around.

But the most controversial proposal is a plan to phase out free fares for more than half a million students who currently receive free or discounted rides on the transit system. Half the discount would be erased in September 2010, with the rest swept away by September 2011 — an idea that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has labeled “unconscionable.”

The vote was 12-0; one board member, Norman I. Seabrook, was not present, but indicated in a letter to the board that he would have voted against the plan.

Jay H. Walder, the authority’s recently appointed chairman, laid out a frank assessment of the authority’s shortcomings: “In the two months that I’ve been here, it’s apparent to me that we don’t operate in a way that ensures that every taxpayer dollar that we receive is being used as effectively as possible.”

He pledged to undertake a top-to-bottom review of the agency’s finances. “In short, we need to take the place apart,” he said, adding that he regretted that he could not avoid the cuts. “I wish there was a way to do it fast enough to take the things off the table that we’re talking about today; I don’t think we can.”

The elimination of the student discounts attracted a series of furious speeches on Wednesday morning in the fifth-floor boardroom at the authority’s headquarters on Madison Avenue. “You sit here and bring anxieties to young children,” City Councilman Charles Barron said. “What do you want them to do? Jump the turnstiles and turn them into criminals?”

His remarks were greeted by cheers from dozens of protesters attending the meeting.

The authority is attempting to plug a financial shortfall of nearly $400 million that appeared in startlingly quick fashion. Late last month, state legislators cut $143 million out of the authority’s budget; state accountants then determined that a payroll tax dedicated to mass transit financing would produce $100 million less revenue than initially thought. Finally, late last week, a court ruled that the authority must pay significant raises to transit workers, adding tens of millions of dollars in expenses.

Jeffrey A. Kay, a mayoral appointee to the board, denounced state legislators for “pulling out the rug” from the transportation authority.

“They were the ones who put together a deal and said you are fine for the next two years; it was their deal that fell apart,” Mr. Kay said in an angry speech. “The politics has to stop. The public and the riders have to go through this, and they’re caught in the middle of it.”

None of the cuts would take effect until June at the earliest. A fare increase of 7.5 percent is already scheduled for 2011.

Well, gee, if we want to keep shoveling money into the bottomless pit of corporate America while it destroys our jobs, and if we want to keep wealthy people’s taxes as low as ever we can, somebody’s got to pay. That means that public services have to go. Ordinary people have to pay. We must never raise taxes on the rich or require adequate jobs or wages for the rest of us. That would be–gasp!–socialist or something. Get used to walking, boys and girls, until we find a way to change the way our leaders do business.

MTA is right!
Shouldn’t the city/state pay for the children?
Why should the struggling MTA? They cut trains & buses, and even eliminated some routes. What else do you want them to cut – the court ordered wage increase? don’t think so!

What is unconscionable is the raises given to MTA workers, who–excepting the actual conductors and engineers–appear to be the laziest lot in the city. It may be an added cost, but I totally support slashing the subsidy for kids. Those of us who do not have children should not be continually subsidize those who do…

Way to take accountability, MTA. Way to acknowledge the obvious errors in your financial planning. Way to take responsibility for the error of distributing the “surplus” a few years ago instead of saving for a rainy day. Does anyone on the MTA board actually use its services? If they did, they would know how truly horrible this is. Take responsibility for the failures and put plans in place to fix them. Don’t point fingers.

The “W” and “Z” trains are minor lines? Not if you ride them they ain’t! I use the “W” many times per week to get to Whitehall St to catch the ferry to Staten Island. If I have to wait forever for an “R” train (that will be more packed than usual since there’s no “W” to pick up the slack) then it will take me that much longer to get downtown, increasing my chances of missing a boat and waiting another 20-30 mins until the next one.

Minor subway line, indeed. May have to get my car out of the garage and drive to Midtown again. Not much incentive for me to use the subway if my commute increases by a half-hour every night.

The MTA has long been run by a bunch of money-mongering crooks. They need to hire a responsible auditor and fleece the board of all these “developers”, “financiers”, and “real-estate moguls” who simply use the MTA to benefit their own investments.

There should be a federal investigation into the MTA and its’ irresponsible financial dealings that started way back when Peter “I don’t ride the Subways, I wear $1000 suits” Kalikow ran things.
(Yes – he actually said that.)

Let’s have some accountability from the MTA – what happened to the surplus?

Why does Paris and London have wonderful subway service yet NYC has increasingly terrible service? This is unsustainable, I already wait 20-30 min on weekends and evenings to go downtown from the UWS. Any more cuts means a train comes every hour–I have an idea, why don’t you just shut down MTA altogether? It will be about the same result! I guess it is time for Manhattan to buy cars instead of metrocards.

I’m no expert, but isn’t it counterproductive to recovery to insist on balanced budgets now? If there was ever a time to borrow in order to keep people working, this would be it.

I hear about how government bond ratings and the like drive the current cost-cutting concept for government. Are these the same financial experts who rated mortgage investments and the like? I would guess they pretty much are of that ilk, draining the public of their last dime.

Since NJ Transit runs the only entity in Orange County claimed by the MTA, I suggest that the Port Jervis line be contracted directly with NJ Transit, and dismiss the MTA from involvement. Seeing as they seem to feel overburdened, they should welcome such a concept.

The economic health and vitality of NYC is directly tied to its subway service. The ability to get almost anywhere 24 hours a day (somewhat) quickly and (usually) safely makes NYC what it is. They must find the money from somewhere, because it is not about simple inconvenience – it is about the ability of the city to function.

“Sudden shortfall”?…..Lets stop the BS…..The MTA is the most mismanaged and corrupt corporation that the people are forced to deal with because of the nature of the monopoly it represents…..One year thay have a huge surplus then suddenly its disappeared? Please! Remember that con artist MTA president Roger Toussant, he had members voting on a contract that hey had not even seen the details of….And this type of mismanagement has been going on for ages….Perhaps its time we had an Attorney General with some moxie to come forth and cut out the corruption, thats being paid for by the citizens of this fair city, in these troubled times…

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